Chilli and Moments of Coincidence
by noone111111
Summary: In the beginning, Harry finds most of the information that helps him on his journey by chance. So what would happen if someone else stumbles upon the information instead? And there is something about this girl's past that will change Harry's life forever.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Chilli stepped into King's Cross Station, nervous. She looked around at the calm but distant faces of the Muggles going about their business about the station. She looked at her mother beside her.

"You okay, Lily dear?" she asked sweetly, placing a reassuring hand on Chilli's arm. Chilli nodded, licking her lips. They continued walking through the busy station which, Chilli thought despite herself, could do with a bit more cleaning. Although, she considered, she was only used to the spotless floors and polished decorations that were placed throughout her own house. So this might be considered normal for Muggles, Chilli concluded, still observing her surroundings with slight interest.

They soon reached platforms Nine and Ten. Chilli looked at her mum enquiringly.

"You see the ticket barrier, darling? Platform Nine and Three Quarters is just on the other side, and then there's the train to Hogwarts!"

Chilli felt a stirring of anger at the patronizing way her mother was treating her, but didn't bother mentioning it. She eyed the barrier cautiously, and strolled towards it, her mother behind her pushing her trolley. Chilli squinted her eyes shut as she was about to seemingly make contact with the ticket barrier; she didn't doubt that the magic would work; it was just the instinctual reaction to what her eyes her telling her. When she opened them again, the scenery had changed completely.

The only thing in common was that it was a train station, and that there was a train pulled up, but this was an old-fashioned, maroon-and-black train, belching smoke into the open air. A sign hung from the wall, telling whatever idiot who didn't know that this was Platform Nine and Three Quarters, and that this train was the Hogwarts Express. A train conductor walked up and down the length of the train, warning everyone that the train was leaving in five minutes. And finally, the platform was swarming not with Muggles, but with assorted witches and wizards farewelling their children, and watching them onto the train.

Chilli heard her mother appear behind her, and together they made their way to one of the doors that led into the carriages. "Bye then, sweetie," her mother said, bending down to pull her daughter into a hug. Chilli patted her mother's back vaguely in return. Her mum pulled away and handed Chilli her trunk – almost to big for her to carry – and cage – containing a single perch near the top from which a flying fox hung, gave one last wave, asked Chilli to write often, and then left.

Chilli lumbered into the carriage, her process made awkward by the trunk and cage. She was one of the few left that hadn't already found a seat. The train lurched forward almost as soon as Chilli had gotten onto the train. The effect of this was Chilli almost falling onto her face. She kept a tight grip on her trunk to anchor her down until the train moved into a steady pace, then continued bumbling down the carriages.

To her great annoyance, there was not a single empty compartment. That meant she would have to share it with someone, which she hated doing.

It wasn't that she didn't like having people around, it was just that she wasn't very good at socialising, and didn't like the awkward air that conjured itself when there was no conversation when one was expected. So it was better off to just to be alone.

It took her about another five minutes to find the emptiest carriage. It contained two other people, already deep in conversation. Chilli bit her lip, nervous once more, and then she knocked on the compartment door to get their attention, and slipped inside.

Seamus was in heated discussion with Dean Thomas, whom he had met on the platform earlier, about whether football or Quidditch was the better sport, when there was a small knock on the door of their compartment. A cute girl with dark-red hair that fell to her waist, shiny black eyes and sparse freckles along her face, and wearing a nervous smile entered the compartment, eyes flicking between Dean and himself. Seamus smiled back; the girl seemed quite anxious for some reason, and it was his way of offering reassurance. It seemed to work; she seemed to grow more confident, at least a little bit. "Hi," she said simply. Her voice was quiet and smooth. "Umm . . . do you mind if I sit here? There's nowhere else to go . . ."

"Course; plenty of room here, ent there, Dean?" Seamus said happily, turning to his friend, who hadn't seemed to be following what was happening.

"Yeah, sure . . . "

The girl's smile widened and grew more cheery in gratitude, and took the seat opposite Seamus. "I'm Lily," she said. "But everyone 'cept my mum calls me Chilli, because it rhymes, and my hair, you know . . ." _and because chilli is really hot . . ._ Chilli thought to herself, though of course she wouldn't voice this to two boys she had just met. "Yeah, I'd guess," Seamus replied, flashing a wide, friendly smile. Chilli's eyes flicked to her lap, where her hands were involuntarily twisting themselves into knots.

Chilli felt anxious, and that annoying, awkward air was pressing down on her, urging her to speak, but she didn't know what to say.

I'm Seamus Finnigan," said the boy. _He had an Irish accent_. Chilli noted this as she looked up to the boy's smiling round face. She smiled back, trying to make herself be friendly. She turned to the other boy, the black one with short, frizzy hair.

"And you were Dean, right?" she enquired.

"Yep."

"So, uh, you excited? About Hogwarts?" she added.

"Yeah!" This seemed a subject Dean was keen to talk about. "I couldn't believe it when I got my letter; I think I'm Muggleborn, but I don't know my father, so it was really cool when me and my mum found out about magic and stuff!"

Chilli smiled politely, and, trying not to sound as patronising as her mother was; "I guess it is pretty cool . . . I'm a Pureblood though, so I kinda grew up with magic; can't imagine life without it, really . . ."

"Hey, that's a cool pet you've got," Seamus said suddenly. Chilli's eyes flicked to the cage she'd placed at her feet. "Oh, yeah . . . he's really awesome; fell in love with him the moment I met him. I like all kinds of cool animals like bats and wolves and birds of prey and stuff. But I can't have a pet wolf, of course."

Dean and Seamus laughed in reply, and Chilli's heart felt lightened by this. Maybe she could get the hang of this socialising thing after all . . .

"I haven't got a name for him yet though," she continued. "I didn't get him until that long ago, and I want to think of the perfect name for him."

"Call him Vampire," said Seamus immediately.

"Or Buffy," added Dean.

"What?" Seamus and Chilli chorused.

"Never mind," Dean said with a smile.

"Isn't Buffy a girl's name?" Chilli asked.

"Yeah, so never mind," Dean insisted, waving his hands in a discouraging motion.

"I still like Vampire," Seamus persisted, leaning forward slightly.

"I don't," Chilli refused. "My bat is a nice bat, and vampires are fierce and mean and evil people."

"How do you know he's a nice bat?" Seamus argued. "You said yourself you haven't had him for very long. He could like biting people, for all you know. Vampire."

"What about Dracula?" Dean suggested.

"What's that?"

"It's a name," Dean said, raising an eyebrow as though this were obvious. "I made it up just then."

"Hmm . . ." Chilli considered. "'Drac' like dragon, and 'ula' like a girly name? -" Dean gave a sudden snort of laughter for some reason "- I don't think so . . . "

"Well, you need to think of something," Seamus said. "You can't leave it as No Name or anything . . ."

"If you want a cutesy name," Dean interjected. "You can call it Fluffy."

Chilli laughed. "God, no. Way to cliché if it wasn't a stupid name anyway."

"Call it George."

"Ha ha, no."

"Bob."

"No."

"Quentin."

"No!"

Frustrated and amused at the same time, Chilli laughed. "Human names are for humans."

"So you want a bat name then?" Dean asked.

"It wouldn't hurt!" Chilli was still laughing. For the first time ever, talking had put her in a good mood.

"How about _Colmillo_? That's Fang in Spanish," said Dean unexpectedly.

"How do you know Spanish?" Chilli asked.

"I learnt it in my old school," Dean answered. Raising an eyebrow, Chilli decided not to answer this. She hadn't been to school before. She'd been taught the basics, reading, writing and arithmetic, by her mum – or at least, she taught her until she couldn't be bothered any more, and just hired a tutor.

"Why don't you call it Bat?" Seamus offered.

Chilli sighed hopelessly and, feeling that she'd had enough talking for now, drew a book from her trunk and settled down to read . . .


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chilli heard her name being called and made her way up to the stool where Professor McGonagall was holding the Sorting Hat out to her. She wasn't nervous; she knew the drill. Her mother had told her, bright-eyed and excited, about the day she had been Sorted into Gryffindor.

_So, _Chilli thought firmly, _I definitely won't be going into that House._

Chilli reached the stool and sat down, turning as she did so, so that she was looking round at all the expectant faces. Her eyes momentarily met with Seamus's, then she quickly looked away as her chest flooded with emotion, probably embarrassment. She also noticed a boy with hair as red as her own, though he had a lot more freckles. Next to him, she realized with a shock, was a boy she recognized.

_Harry Potter_.

The lightning-shaped scar on his forehead immediately gave away his identity. Chilli couldn't help goggling at him, despite the fact that he had most likely noticed her looking by now. Her thoughts were distracted, however, when Professor McGonagall put the Hat on her head. It sunk to below her eyes, so she couldn't have continued staring even if she had wanted to.

To her surprise, Chilli heard a whispering in her ear; this was something that her mother had not told her. The Hat could talk?

"So what House shall I put you in, hmm?" it said in an old, amused voice. _I guess it's no surprise that it's happy_, Chilli thought vaguely, after getting over the shock that the thing could _talk!_ _This is probably all it gets to do all year. _

"No suggestions?" the Hat continued, still with that same, almost mocking, I-know-more-than-you tone. "You're a pureblood, so you would fit in well in Slytherin . . ."

_I do like snakes_ Chilli agreed languidly, looking up at the picture of the school crest dangling down from the night sky/ceiling above her, and getting the sudden urge to laugh at how stupid that sounded, even to her.

"But besides being a pureblood, you don't have many Slytherin qualities."

_Well make up your bloody mind, then! _Chilli snapped, getting impatient, as well as self-conscious at the fact that she was sitting in front of hundreds of students and that she had been there for longer any of the other few that had been before her.

"Gryffindor!" the Sorting Hat shouted, without warning, and for the whole Hall to hear. With a smile of relief and a small pang of disappointment, Chilli realised that she had been nervous after all.

Chilli gave the Hat back to Professor McGonagall and went to what was evidently the Gryffindor table, judging by the cheers. For some reason, she was immediately hailed by two identical boys with flaming red hair, making her wonder just how many red-heads there were in this school.

"You look like Ginny," said the closest, as soon as Chilli sat down. "You could be twins."

"Uh, huh?" Chilli wondered, having no idea who Ginny was.

"But you don't have enough freckles," said the other twin. "I'm Fred, and this is George."

"That's not right," interrupted a black boy with dreadlocks, leaning over from the other side of the table. "_That's _Fred and _that's _George. And I'm Lee."

"No, you're not. You're Fred. _I'm _Lee, and _he's _George."

"Uhh . . ." Chilli groaned. She was completely lost.

She turned her attention back to the Sorting, where Seamus was just sitting down on that three-legged stool, and McGonagall putting the Sorting Hat on his head. Chilli found herself hoping that he would be sorted into Gryffindor.

She watched him as the Hat sank below his eyes, and took in his features with an odd interest that had brewed itself inside her, without her bidding.

"Gryffindor!" the Sorting Hat announced, bellowing it so that all in the Great Hall could hear. Chilli wondered if the Sorting Hat had whispered in Seamus's ear as well, and if so, what had it said?

She shuffled along the bench, hoping that Seamus would recognise her from the train, notice the empty space next to her, and sit down there. He didn't, and instead sat at the very end of the table, almost as far away from Chilli as it was possible to be.

_Fine!_ she thought angrily. _It's not as though I wanted you to sit here or anything. It's not as though I went through the effort of talking to you at the beginning of the train ride, even though I'm used to just ignoring people and reading. _She continued watching the Sorting, though she didn't actually take in anything she saw.

A good twenty minutes later, Chilli's stomach rumbling with hunger, the Sorting finally finished, with nothing particularly exciting happening except Harry Potter being Sorted into Gryffindor, though only after a wait that easily outstretched even hers as the Sorting Hat made its decision. Chilli had shuffled along even further as Harry made his way to the table, and this time had succeeded, though Harry had left a noticeable amount of bench between them. He seemed to know Fred or George or Lee or whatever the twins' names were, at least a little, and the twins in turn had seemed delighted at being the subject of the great Harry Potter's attention. Chilli had tried to build up her courage to talk to him in the several minutes that followed, but just as she had opened her mouth to speak, another red-haired boy had sat down between her and Harry and Chilli promptly gave up.

Professor Dumbledore was speaking now, but Chilli wasn't paying attention. She was very hungry, and was starting to regret not getting anything from the trolley of food that had gone round the train around midafternoon, despite the seemingly obvious hygiene issues. Also, being surrounded by so many people made her nervous. At home it was just her mother, herself and the house-elf in their large house. Sometimes the gardener came, but he didn't live there like the house-elf did. There was the tutor too, but he came only once a week and hadn't come at all since her Hogwarts letter had come.

Professor Dumbledore finished talking, and all of a sudden food appeared on the previously-empty plates that had lined all the tables. Chilli, ravenous, didn't hesitate to tuck into the great variety of delicious food. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea. It was a great spread, and from what her mother had told her about Hogwarts, Chilli had no doubt that only the best trained house-elves would have prepared it. She helped herself to chicken legs, pies, corn-on-the-cob, roast vegetables, anything that tickled her fancy, and was in her reach, because she didn't want to disturb anyone to ask them to pass her a certain kind of food. The only disappointment was that the only beverage was water, which Chilli found rather poor, because at her home flavours were mixed into the water because she found ordinary water to bland for her to stomach.

After a while of eating the delicious food, which seemed endless, despite the large number of students, the wonderful savoury food turned to wonderful sweet food, as dinner was replaced with dessert. The Hogwarts first-years gave a gasp of delight, because the dessert well satisfied the eyes as well as the stomach and tongue.

Finally, when the whole Hall was full to bursting and not a single student or teacher could eat a bite more, Professor Dumbledore got up to speak once again. But once again, Chilli did not listen, though this time she was too busy concentrating on the pain in her belly, caused by her eating far too much, and the sleepiness that came with it.

The next thing she knew she was being shepherded with the rest of the first-years and being led from the Hall by a tall, skinny red-head (how many of them were there?) with horn-rimmed glasses, up several flights of stairs until reaching a tight spiral staircase, up the top of which was nothing more than a small landing, with a large portrait taking up most of the opposite wall. Chilli was really too tired to take anything. At home she usually went to bed early, as she enjoyed waking up before dawn to look out the window as the world outside slowly woke up as well, with the sun rising and the birds singing and several of the more exotic plants of the greenhouse stretched their boughs to the west to receive the first sunlight of the day. The only thing she really took in before reaching the common room was the obscene amount of stairs that had to be climbed merely to reach the Gryffindor common room, and an even more obscene poltergeist that had swooped by, shouting bad words and throwing pieces of chalk at them like a cruel teenager throwing rocks at a stray dog ("Peeves," the red-head with glasses had explained. "You'll want to stay away from him.").

The dormitory was wide yet cosy, with a bright fireplace with comfy-looking armchairs surrounding it, a red carpet covering the floor, and a red and gold rug covering the carpet. Indeed, red and gold seemed to be the main theme around the room, and so Chilli deduced that these were the house colours. She didn't mind; red and gold were quite a nice colour scheme, although it may clash with her hair if she actually had to wear it, and nothing could beat a colour scheme that included purple – maybe purple and gold. _If I ever become the Head of Gryffindor some day, _Chilli thought, _I might change it._ Her tiredness was muddling her thoughts, so that she seemed to be unable to think straight, which would explain her current train of thought. Chilli was in fact so tired, so eager for bed, that she would have run up the staircase leading to the girl dormitories once the red-head had pointed them out, if the food she had eaten had not made her so sluggish. As it was, she still made her way rather quickly up the staircase and into the first-year dormitory, noting that her belongings had been moved up here, next to one of the beds, before collapsing on said bed, and falling asleep without even bothering to change into her pyjamas.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Over the next week, Chilli worked very hard in her classes. In her home there was very little to do, besides reading her mother's endless supply of books. They were interesting, but Chilli found it impossible to do nothing but read for an entire day. So she was glad of such interesting things to do, even if Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts were less enjoyable.

Professor Snape, the teacher of Potions, was a bastard. He always had a snide remark ready on the tongue, and it was all Chilli could do to not yell a reply, for she had never been spoken to in such a manner before. She had been told off before, of course, when it was due, when she had done something wrong and deserved her punishment, but Snape was so unfair and biased that Chilli had quite a bit of trouble seeing what she had done wrong most of the time, and the Slytherins were just as bad at Potions as the Gryffindors, but Snape never seemed to notice.

Defence Against the Dark Arts was not much better, but for a different reason. Chilli had only had a few lessons so far, but each had been as dull as the one before. All of the lessons had consisted of Professor Quirrel reading passages from a textbook Chilli had already read, stuttering so badly that he was barely comprehensible anyway. The rest of the class spent the lesson talking to their friends, rather than making the effort to translate Professor Quirrel's eternal stuttering into actual words. But Chilli hadn't managed to make any friends yet, so she spent the lessons reading other textbooks, the result of which being she was ahead of the other students in most classes, though she was still surpassed by a girl with frizzy, curly hair, who seemed to be exceptionally talented at magic, for a Muggle-born.

On her first Saturday at Hogwarts, Chilli woke up later than usual, having stayed up late on Friday night to get her homework done. She changed to her robes, grabbed a book and made her way down to the common room, sitting down in front of the fire to warm her feet. There were several other students in the common room, but Chilli noted that Harry Potter wasn't there, and wasn't interested in anyone else. Seamus was there, though, playing a game of wizard's chess with Dean, who obviously wasn't adjusted to the pieces calling jeers to the opposition across the game board, and criticising him when he made a bad move. Chilli started reading her book, but stopped after she realised she'd been staring at the same sentence for the last few minutes. She returned her attention to the chess game. Seamus was easily the more experienced player, and had Dean in checkmate less than ten minutes later. Once it became obvious that they weren't going to play another game, Chilli got up and made her way down to the Great Hall.

She helped herself to several slices of toast, a glass of milk, and then went out into the grounds, with nothing better to do. She glanced around at the huge expanse of land that made up the ground, considering her options. She could go to the lake, watching the giant squid swimming around in the water. She could go to the greenhouse, if she got Professor Sprout's permission; she'd enjoyed her Herbology lessons, as her affinity with the plants made up for her having to get her hand dirty, and the odd small scratch on her arm. Then Chilli spotted a small hut on the fringes of the Forbidden Forest, and her curiosity sparked immediately. She started towards it, but then hesitated. What if they weren't allowed o go there? After all, they were forbidden from the Forbidden Forest, evidently, and the hut was just outside. There was also the strong possibility that someone actually lived there, maybe even the hated Argus Filch. She certainly did not like the idea of walking into _his_ house unannounced. Then she remembered the giant of a man that had led her and the other first-years to Hogwarts, who had announced himself as "Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts," and immediately knew that this was where he lived. For some reason, she liked the idea of visiting him, and so made off across the grounds towards the shabby hut. She knocked on the door and heard barking from the other side of the door in reply. Hagrid opened the door, his great girth blocking the inside of the house from view.

"Oh, 'ello," he said gruffly, clearly surprised to see her there. _And not without reason, _Chilli reminded herself.

"Well, I – er, didn't have anything to do so I – I thought I might come visit you . . ." Chilli was stuttering almost as bad as Professor Quirrel.

"Oh, sure, come in. I was jus' making tea."

Hagrid stood aside to let her in, and Chilli saw with horror someone else inside. And not just any someone else. _Harry Potter_. _What was he doing here?_ Chilli thought.

"Uh, hi," she muttered, looking down at her feet. Then she walked in, and sat down on one of the seats.

It was cosy in Hagrid's hut. A bed on the farthest side, a kitchen on the right, a fireplace on the left, and a dining table and several chairs in the middle. It was too cosy, really; _tiny_. Even the smallest of Chilli's bathrooms was larger than this. Hagrid turned his back to them as he made the promised tea, leaving Chilli no choice but to make conversation with Harry Potter. _Harry Potter!_

"Hi," she said again, and in her shyness she gave a great smile. "Um, thankyou, uh . . . for killing He Who Must Not Be – You-Know-Who . . ." _Idiot! _Chilli's mind screamed at her. _Of all the things to say you managed to choose the worst!_

Luckily, Hagrid saved her at least some embarrassment by intervening at that point, turning back to them again to put three mugs of tea on the table, while saying, "Oh, no. He ent dead. Some people might think so, but it's not true."

"Yes it is," Chilli said in genuine confusion. "Else he'd still be in control, and killing everybody and stuff."  
>"I'm sure he would if her were able," was Hagrid's reply, handing the mugs to Harry and Chilli. "But even though he wasn't killed tha' night, he was weakened, a lo', he's in no state to be causin' anyone any trouble, bu' he won' stay tha' way forever, he's biding his time, even as we speak, until 'e gets strong enough to strike."<p>

Chilli felt a chill of cold run down her spine. "That- that can't happen, can it? You-Know-Who can't return; how could he? If he was going to – to come back, it wouldn't take ten years to do it." Chilli turned to Harry. "Would it?"

"I don't know," he said. "I don't remember anything from that night." He looked closer at Chilli. "I'm sorry, what's your name?"

Chilli flushed. "I'm Lily, but everyone calls me Chilli. I'm in Gryffindor, all your classes and you sat next to me after the Sorting."

Chilli realised a moment too late that the last comment was a bit too much detail, and made her sound a little stalker-ish.

"Right," Harry said. "I never noticed. Sorry."

"It doesn't matter," Chilli said reservedly. "You'd be surprised how many people don't seem to notice me."

Hagrid cleared his throat suddenly, and it was only then that Chilli realised that she had momentarily forgotten his presence.

"Um, so what do you do, Hagrid? Like, around Hogwarts," Chilli turned the conversation to Hagrid, which was clearly what the cough had been for.

"I jus' look af'er the grounds, the animals, like my Threstral herd. I grow fir trees for Christmas, and pumpkins for Halloween. Just little things when they need doing; not much really."

"Cool," Chilli said without too much enthusiasm. She was fairly certain that Threstrals were quite dangerous. "Um, well, I'd better go; I forgot to feed my bat today, and I have some homework to do." The homework bit was a lie, but Chilli was suddenly filled with the want to leave; she hadn't wanted or suspected Harry's appearance, and that awkward silence had started to press again.

"Yeah, I'll go too," Harry said, clearly not getting the message. He got up. "Bye, Hagrid."

"Yeah, bye," Chilli echoed.

Hagrid grunted in reply, and Harry and Chilli left.

The awkward silence went with them, and Chilli realised with dismay that they would be walking together all the way back up to Gryffindor Tower.

"You have a pet bat?" Harry asked, ripping through the awkward silence, and Chilli took the chance of conservation gratefully.

"Yeah," Chilli said. "Well, a flying fox, technically. But it's still got wings and fur, so . . ."

"Yeah," said Harry. Chilli grinned, getting a little more confident.

"He's really cool. But I've had him for a fortnight now and I still haven't got a name for him. I can't help it. I would rather him have no name then one that wasn't perfect."

"I guess so," Harry agreed. "If it's any help, I named my owl 'Hedwig' by choosing a random name from one of my books."

"What's it like, being famous but living with Muggles?" Chilli asked, changing the subject abruptly.

"Hmm? I didn't even know I was famous until my letter for Hogwarts came, and even then my Uncle Vernon didn't want me to find out. He made us move to a shack and in the end Hagrid knocked the door down and told me everything."

"You didn't know _anything_ about magic at _all?" _Chilli cried incredulously. "But didn't you use any magic accidently or something?"

"Yeah, but every time something odd happens there was nothing to explain it so I just stopped thinking about it. Once we went to a zoo and I accidently trapped my cousin, Dudley, in an enclosure."

"What's a zoo?" Chilli asked. They'd reached Gryffindor Tower now. Harry told the portrait the password and ducked through the concealed entrance behind before continuing on with the conversation.

"You've really never heard of a zoo before? Well, it's like a – what's happening over there?"

Chilli turned her attention to the small commotion in the common room. There was a small gathering by the message board, and Chilli and Harry made their way toward it to see what was pinned up there.

**ATTENTION FIRST YEARS**

**FLYING LESSONS WILL NOW BE HELD EACH THURSDAY UNTIL THE END OF TERM**

**MEET IN THE ENTRANCE HALL 3:30**

**MADAM HOOCH**


End file.
